Revelations
by Unidentified Pie
Summary: Eden's thought that Daniel was dead for six years. Now, after the war is won and they are safe, it's time to catch up on lost time. Little stories about Day and Eden, set after the war and their move to Antarctica.
1. Protect

**A/N:**

**I'm really sorry if the characters somehow got OOC. I'll just chalk it up to it being because it's the anniversary of their mother's death and because they're discussing things that have been weighing on their minds for a really long time, making them feel really guilty.**

**Hope you enjoy, and please leave a review or two!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the story, or the characters, because if I did, this would be part of a book and not just fanfic, correct?**

**Protect**

By the time Eden is thirteen, he's heard a lot about Daniel's stunts in the Republic. Antarctica has started a tentative treaty with the Republic after all, and the Antarctican students should hear a little about what brought this about. The teachers preach about how he was a hero, bringing about a revolution and changing the entire system for the better. Among friends, he hears about how Day once broke into a Los Angeles bank in under ten seconds, how he destroyed airships and stole food for the poor. There are others who don't see the big deal about things, because Day was just a sixteen year old boy, how much could he possibly have done?

Eden knows otherwise. He wonders, sometimes, how many times Daniel has saved his life without his knowledge? How often has Daniel brought food for their family so that they were well provided for? During the war, how many sacrifices did Daniel make to ensure his safety? He knows a little about politics, and he knows that everyone would either be targeting him or June if they wanted to get to Daniel. His older brother is amazing, Eden thinks, because he could be weak and sick and dying, but Daniel would come out on top. He knows that Daniel is a hero, protecting everything important to him, even at the cost of his life, and he will never, ever let people talk his big brother down - Daniel has suffered enough to last ten lifetimes.

So when he is bullied by his peers for his poor eyesight and they badmouth Daniel, saying that Day is only a phoney that was unable to even protect his own brother, Eden snaps. They have no idea how much Daniel has given to protect him, no idea how much Daniel regrets not doing better and saving John or mum, even though there was no way Daniel could have done anything to protect them. How dare these spoilt, arrogant kids presume to judge Daniel!

Fifteen minutes later, there are three teachers gathered around them, two of which are forcibly restraining Eden, who is still snarling in the direction of the bullies. He is bruised and battered, and his lip is bleeding, but the three guys on the other side are worse off - he suspects that one of them has a broken nose, and one of the others had received a very hard kick to the untouchables. The last one has a black eye that even Eden, who has lost his glasses in the fight, can see. Eden really enjoys his new life in Antarctica, where everything is a game, but he has to admit, the constant loss of points every time he throws a punch is really annoying, and he is very glad that he lost his glasses because seeing little numbers being subtracted at the edge of his vision was seriously frustrating him. At least in the Lake sector people were able to fight without seeing little numbers going down.

Daniel had to be called in, and then Eden starts to feel a little guilty. Not for beating up the boys - no way would he be sorry for that - but he is sorry that Daniel had to be bothered over this. He is musing over this when Daniel waltzes in the door, less than five minutes after bing called. His blonde hair is a mess, and his blue eyes sparkle with a light that Eden hasn't expected to see, since Daniel has just been called by the school secretary over Eden's misconduct.

"Daniel?"

"Yes?"

"Why do you look so happy?" Daniel grins, a brilliant, happy grin that makes the bright room seem dark in comparison.

"I've never run buildings that fast. No goddy bad knee or illness to hold me back anymore!"

"You ran buildings here?"

"Yep."

"Daniel, our house is a thirty minute walk away." How on earth did Daniel make it to the school so fast?

"You underestimate me, little brother." The secretary, who had appeared to go into shock upon hearing that Daniel had run buildings and covered the thirty minute distance to the school in under five minutes, recovers and clears her throat.

"Daniel Altan Wing?"

"That's me."

"We are sorry to have bothered you, but it is necessary that we discuss Eden's inappropriate behaviour."

"Oh?" Daniel looks genuinely curious. "What did he do?"

"He got into a brawl with three upperclassmen and caused a considerable disruption." Daniel appears stunned for a moment.

"What did the upperclassmen do?" Eden is encouraged by the fact that Daniel immediately blames the other side.

"They ganged up on me and insulted you."

"Ganged up on you?" asks Daniel. Eden nods, because they had, even though it isn't the main reason he had beaten those boys up.

"Then they deserved it." Daniel turns to the secretary. "So what's the problem, cousin?" He allows some of the old Lake sector slang to enter the statement, and Eden can't help but grin, because his eighteen year old big brother is talking on equal terms with the thirty something year old secretary, and Eden has just been given permission by him to beat up bullies.

It means that Eden can beat up any classmates who are rude to Daniel.

"Erm… It's just that we do not encourage students to settle arguments by fighting, and we would prefer that they find a more peaceful solution to things." Daniel actually looks like he agrees with the secretary, on this and Eden gulps. He is busted, then.

"I see. I'll talk to him later." The secretary smiles and nods, thanking Daniel for his trouble, and Daniel inclines his head towards her before turning away. Eden jumps out of his chair and scampers after him, happy to escape the office.

As they walk home, Daniel speaks up. "So, what happened to the rest of the boys?"

"They had to go to the nurse." Eden replies, and Daniel laughs, asking about how his baby brother turned so fierce.

Since they insulted my big brother, Eden thinks.

"So what was the real reason you went after them?" Daniel asks casually, and Eden jerks his head up, shocked. How had Daniel known? His big brother only laughs at his reaction.

"You don't go after people without good reason. What did they do?" Eden hesitates, because this is true, but he supposes that he was a little too hasty in attacking them.

"They insulted you." Daniel raises his eyebrow.

"That's all?"

What do you mean, that's all? Eden screams inwardly. They had no right to insult Daniel, no right at all.

"They said you were useless! That everything was your fault!" He doesn't have to specify what everything is, because Daniel knows exactly what he means. Daniel's eyes darken a little with the memory, his face closing a little, and Eden's heart aches, because it wasn't Daniel's fault, and all Daniel has done since them was try to make things right. That was why Eden was living happily now, studying technology in Antarctica, with Daniel and Lucy, and his eyes getting better each passing month.

"It wasn't your fault." He whispers, because even though he had been in pain and bleeding then, he remembers hearing the screams of the soldiers that fateful day, and he knows it was Daniel, fighting for their family, for John and mum and him.

"It was, a little." Day says, and Eden responds at once.

"It wasn't! You fought for us, Daniel!"

"But I saw the soldier firing the goddy bullet, and I should have warned mum, done something, you know? And I've forgotten some stuff, I know, the memories in the days before are all foggy, but there's this guilt I always feel when I think back. And John… John was definitely my fault."

"No! Daniel, it wasn't."

"John died in my place. Because he'd rather die than see me get hurt. So yeah, it was my goddy fault! I should have moved faster, worked harder, anything!" But Daniel couldn't have, because with the Republic's most wanted criminal in their clutches, the military would have been happy to make Day suffer, Eden knows. Daniel would have been heavily injured, his movement impaired, and he had probably already been going at his fastest. But his brother won't listen to this, so Eden tries something else.

"Daniel, if I were going to die, would you want to save me?"

"Of course!"

"Even if it meant dying in my place?" Eden already know the answer to this. He remembers being tired and weak and scared, left on the ground in the middle of a dusty road, chaos and panic and screaming everywhere. He hadn't been able to see, to even try to save himself, because his body wouldn't move for him.

It had been a living nightmare, being helpless and tiny and immobile, splayed on the ground defenceless and being unable to move no matter how he struggled.

Then Daniel had come, and he remembers being picked up by gentle hands, if a little clumsy from the need for speed, and hoisted on Daniel's back, and reassurances that he would be fine and safe.

He remembers Daniel's harsh, ragged breathing as he ran, weariness and sickness wearing his big brother thin.

He remembers a gunshot and Daniel's hoarse scream, and how Daniel had refused to stop running even as Daniel's breath had hitched on every step. He remembers how another shot had sounded, and how Daniel had cried out, stumbled, and fallen, and how his own vision had gone black.

"Anything."

He remembers waking up in the hospital, to find that Daniel had been shot and badly injured, and how Daniel was having the operation to remove the bullets immediately.

He remembers being terrified that Daniel was going to die, and that it would have been his fault, because he had been stranded in the chaos and Daniel had to go get him, exposing himself. Eden has no doubt that Daniel would have been able to dodge the bullets if only he hadn't been hampered with Eden on top of his illness.

"And if you died, would it be my fault?" He whispers, and somehow now he is not only trying to talk Daniel out of his guilt, but addressing a burden that has weighed on his mind since the war.

"Never!" Daniel replies, so forcefully that it shocks Eden out of the terrible memories, and he sees Daniel shaking his head vehemently. He realises then, that Daniel knows exactly what he's been thinking of - Daniel's gotten back most of his wartime memories; he remembers practically everything except June - and is relieving him of his guilt, when Eden is supposed to be the one convincing Daniel that none of this is Daniel's fault, and he wants to smack himself.

"It would never be your fault, little brother."

But somehow, those words from Daniel have taken a huge weight off Eden's mind.

"Then John wasn't yours either, was it?" Daniel laughs, flashing Eden a grin, bright and light and happy.

Eden sees relief in it too, and knows that he has helped Daniel, even just a little.

That little bit is enough for now.

"I swear, I brought you up to be too smart." Daniel says, gently tapping Eden's head.

"You? Get real." Eden says jokingly, and then everything is alright again, because even though they've gone through horror after horror, battled fatal illnesses and lost the rest of their family, they're together again, safe and healthy and together.

And even though today is the anniversary of mum's death, the anniversary of the day they lost it all, it'll be alright, because they have each other, and supporting each other is what brothers are there for.


	2. Trust

**A/N:**

**I was pretty happy with this chapter, even if it's short and maybe a little sappy. Hope you'll like it too!**

**Trust**

That evening, Eden asks Daniel what it feels like to run buildings, and Daniel laughs and replies "I'll show you."

Somehow he ends up on Daniel's back, and then they are flying across the rooftops, looking down over the city, and Eden knows why Day was so famous, so feared.

Daniel takes the city, takes every building, every wall, every bit of sky and turns it into his playground, into a foothold or a step. They move at exhilarating speeds, and leap from one rooftop to another, defying gravity for one amazing, breathtaking moment before they land. When they land, Eden hardly feels it; Day lands so softly, so perfectly and with so much ease it amazes him - he hadn't known it was possible for a human to land so quietly.

It doesn't even occur to Eden that he should be scared, even though he's a half-blind boy riding on the back of an eighteen-year-old teenager who was but a year ago in a coma and the two of them are leaping buildings twenty stories in the air, because this is his brother, this is Daniel, and Daniel would never, ever let him fall.

He hasn't felt this free in a long time, without the constraints of society and school, ignoring even the laws of physics as they very nearly fly.

So he laughs, the wind in his face and trailing fingers through his hair, whistling in his ears, and Daniel's laughter mixes with his, blending into a beautiful melody as they run across the city at dusk, the setting sun before them and orange streaks in the air.

It is so beautiful, so perfect, and so amazing. Eden realises how much Daniel must have missed this when he was sick and weak, confined to the ground, unable to even run without being assaulted by piercing headaches.

It must have been to Daniel what it was to a bird that could not fly.

They race from building to building, ledge to ledge, until the sky is dark and the air is cool. Daniel finally tires, and it feels like they have been running for hours. Eden is all ready to get off and let Daniel stop, when Daniel tightens his grip on him, and tells him laughingly not to go before the finale. He asks if Eden is ready, and Eden replies with an eager yes.

Then Daniel launches them off the building, and Eden decides that he definitely wasn't ready, a short shriek escaping his lips as he tightens his arms around Daniel's neck in what is very nearly a chokehold.

They plummet into a pile of soft sacks some fifty meters down, and Eden is hyperventilating. Daniel laughs, whooping, and Eden just clings tightly to him, resting his head on Daniel's back, and trying to get his heart out of his stomach. It works, but then his heart attempts to break out of his ribcage, and this is when he swats Daniel's shoulder.

He is planning to berate his big brother, but instead a laugh falls from his lips, and he is yelling that that was completely awesome, which was actually the complete opposite of what he was going to say.

Well.

But it had been awesome, and it had been fun, and Eden had never been in any danger - Daniel wouldn't have let him fall, the very idea is laughable. And Daniel deserves to know that he has given Eden something amazing and wonderful, so Eden lets it slip, telling Daniel about how absolutely fun that was. Daniel smiles, proud and pleased, as if giving something nice to his little brother is the highest possible achievement.

To his big brother, it probably is, even after fighting a war and surviving chronic, deadly sickness, even after living on the streets and fending for himself, even after taking the name Day and becoming the Republic's most wanted criminal turned hero, making Eden happy is probably Daniel's most prided achievement.

And that in itself brings Eden joy.

"Daniel, let's go for dinner." Eden says, as his stomach rumbles. Daniel laughs, and ruffles Eden's hair.

"Where do you want to go?" That is a good question, and Eden surveys the unfamiliar area. He discovers that the particular pile of sacks they've landed in is in some sort of shipment area, a short walk from the business district. He hopes that Daniel knows the way home, because he sure doesn't, and it would be humiliating to have to call Lucy and beg her to rescue the two of them.

But in the end, they probably won't have to call Lucy, because Daniel is, well, Daniel, and Daniel can find a way out of anything.

Eden sometimes wonders if he trusts Daniel more than is wise, but then he thinks about all that Daniel has done and would do for him, and he decides that there is no such thing as trusting his big brother too much.


	3. Alone

**A/N:**

**I actually had this chapter half-done in my computer, and when I saw that there were actually people who really enjoyed this story, I decided to just finish it up and post it. Thank you so, so, so much, all ye people who followed and favourited this story! And big, big, big thanks to LegitParkourNinjaLion, my very first reviewer! **

**So, LegitParkourNinjaLion, as thanks, I don't mind if you sketch out that flashback of June you wanted to see. Like, you can tell me what it is that you want to see, and post it in the reviews, or PM me, and I'll try to incorporate it into this story the best I can. If it won't fit in the story, but I've found it a really good idea, I might even make it into another story for you.**

**I hope you guys enjoy this chapter - I was pretty pleased by how it came out. Also, reviews encourage me to update faster. Hint, hint.**

**Alone**

They meet Tess sometimes, when she comes over to visit, and Eden is always eager to hear more about his big brother's stunts as Day. Tess is eternally kind and sweet, and always obliges him, regaling him with tales about Daniel's adventures on the streets. She always makes Eden laugh by telling him about the expressions of shock and fury on the officers' and guards' faces whenever Daniel succeeds on a run, which is often. She paints pictures with her words of Daniel's different disguises, and always succeeds in getting a giggle out of him when she talks about how confused the officials always are when Day transforms from a bald boy with big green eyes to a dark skinned lad with curly hair and brown eyes.

But today something is wrong. When he opens the door for her, Tess has an angry, sullen look look on her face, frustration pouring off her in tangible waves. It is such a strange sight, to see sweet, happy, bubbly Tess this upset, and Eden wonders what has happened to make her like this. The moment she sees him, Tess plasters a wide grin over her face, but it's a little too large, too wide, too forced and too obviously fake, and Eden is not fooled. When he asks her what's wrong though, she just waves it off and says in an annoyed tone: "Nothing, just some problems at work."

They must be some very big problems to make Tess this mad. Eden wonders if perhaps a doctor managed to screw up and kill a patient that could have been saved, because it would need to be a problem at least that big to piss Tess off like this. He stays silent, because he doesn't want to be face to face with an angry, ranting Tess. Instead, he grins widely at her and welcomes her in, just as Daniel steps out of the kitchen.

"Good to see you, cousin." He says, and Tess smiles at him, even though a spark of anger lights up her eyes. Daniel eyes her warily as she returns the greeting. Still, he stays out of it, probably on the same basis as Eden.

Tess actually makes a very good effort to hide and suppress her anger that night, and her frustration seems to fade as she talks with Daniel and Eden. Eden even manages to wheedle a story and a quick game out of her before he has to get to bed, and when he crawls under the blankets, he dozes off almost immediately.

He is awoken to the sound of a raised voice. Since being nearly blinded, his hearing has improved, and his ears are crazy sensitive.

To his surprise and confusion, the voice doesn't belong to Daniel or Tess. Instead, it belongs to Lucy, and Eden's befuddled mind scrambles to find an explanation by making out her words.

"Day! What is she talking about?"

"Quiet! You'll wake Eden!" Daniel hisses.

"Explain. Now." Lucy says, in a slightly softer but very firm voice.

"The day of my trial. They took me to the hospital lab and experimented on me for something. I don't goddy know what, but they used me as some sort of lab rat and then threw me in the basement with a bunch of dead kids. All of them failed their trials - the Republic had no use for them." He gives a dry, bitter laugh. "Except I wasn't dead." Daniel whispers hollowly, and Eden's heart hurts.

Now he knows why Daniel had hated the thought of him being experimented on by the Republic.

"How can you let them, Day? They have no right to use the results from… from that!" Tess says, and her voice borders on a yell.

"Keep it down, cousin! You'll wake Eden!" Daniel says a second time. Eden is already awake though, and their volume is very good for eavesdropping.

"Day, they have no right." Tess repeats.

"They've already done the goddy experiment anyway, right? What's it matter now?"

"They're using your cells, your tissue and bone samples! It's human experimentation!"

"The Republic's already taken the samples, maybe it's better if they use it, just so it doesn't go to waste, yeah?"

"Aren't you _angry_? The Elector's made your Trial score public - with a perfect score, you should have been living a good life, not - not experimented on!"

A perfect score? Daniel? No, Daniel had failed his Trial. What was Tess talking about?

"But they've already done it, and the samples were already used, weren't they?"

"But-"

"It's been eight years, cousin. Even if I didn't want them to, they'd have done _something_ with the samples during that time. It's not like we can change it now."

"It's not fair." Tess said, so softly that Eden almost couldn't hear her.

"I've got Eden back, though, and I'm not the Republic's most wanted criminal anymore, so everything's fine." Daniel replies simply. "I'm going to make some warm drinks, yeah?"

Eden hears the clink of cups, and a few soft, unintelligible murmurs. He hasn't heard Lucy's voice since Daniel explained what happened on the day of his Trial, and expects that she's either still in shock or staying out of it because she knows it's personal. Maybe both.

Tess seems to have calmed down - Daniel's probably said something to comfort her. His big brother is very good at comforting people, Eden thinks.

She leaves, and Lucy talks about something with Daniel, so quietly that Eden can't hear them, so he creeps out of bed and presses his ear against the door.

"You poor boy." Lucy murmurs, and Eden can imagine her stroking Daniel's blond hair.

"I'm fine, Lucy. Eden's had it goddy worse." Day sounds indifferent, but there is an undercurrent of fury and passionate hate underneath it, and Eden has no doubt that those darker emotions are directed to whoever experimented on Eden, instead of those who have hurt Daniel.

It makes his heart ache, clenching as if something has a hold of it and is squeezing tight, and he wishes that Daniel would focus on his own problems for once.

"Yes, and Eden had you to help him through it. Who did you have?"

"Lucy-"

"_Tell me, Day_." Lucy says, voice hardening. "Who did you have?"

"I was fine on my own." Daniel replies, fiercely, with a fire and defensiveness that chills Eden to the core. "I was _fine_."

Daniel had no one. That much is clear, and it is a very painful, cruel truth. Eden finds that he cannot breathe right, because his chest is constricting painfully, and there is a lump in his throat, hard and dry.

Even if Daniel insists that he'd been fine, he should not have had to be alone. Eden imagines what it must have been like, to be injured and hurting and scared, with the whole world, his family and friends included, believing that he was dead.

The hollowness and panic that swamps him in that split second makes Eden's heart pound against his ribcage, beating even faster than before, until Eden cannot even hear his own ragged breaths above the sound of his thudding heart - it must have been a nightmare for Daniel, those first few days, or weeks, or maybe even months.

He drags in a deep breath, which sounds more like a gasp, and on the exhale, he gathers his courage and pushes open the door, watching as Daniel spins around to stare at him.

"Eden! How long were you-" He is cut off when Eden barrels into him, wrapping his arms tight around Daniel's waist and holding tight. He presses his cheek into Daniel's warm chest, clinging tightly to his older brother, who has been through far, far too much alone.

Daniel stiffens, shocked, before gradually relaxing, wrapping warm arms around Eden's back and rubbing small circles on his back.

"You idiot!" Eden says, though his actions belie his words as he squeezes Daniel tighter. "You should have told me."

"What good would it have done?" Daniel asks, still rubbing Eden's back in soothing motions.

Eden doesn't know what good it would have done, but he feels upset, somehow, that Daniel had just chosen not to share it with him, a strange sense of betrayal that he does not understand. He only knows that he's been through the same experience, the patient zero of a mutated plague, and that, as two people who have been through similar pains and struggles, _brothers_, no less, they should have been able to confide in each other.

"We could've talked." He mutters, and it's a stupid answer, a pathetic one, but it's true, and really, that's all that matters. Daniel's hand rests on Eden's head, ruffling his hair.

"It's alright, kid. Everything's fine."

And Eden wants to protest, because Daniel has been through so much, and it obviously is not _fine_, but his brother is here, and the two of them are safe and sound and _together_.

Tomorrow, Eden is going to make Daniel spill the beans about everything he does not know.

But for tonight, just for tonight, he will let it slide.

After all, Daniel is always watching out for Eden, and while Eden loves that, he can take care of himself for awhile, and there is always time tomorrow to patch up each other's wounds.

For now, it is enough that they are no longer alone, that they are both out of the labs and have their family with them.

And Eden vows in his heart that he will never let Daniel be alone again.

**A/N:**

**Thanks again for reading, and please review!**

**LegitParkourNinjaLion, if you didn't read the A/N above, please do so ****_now_****; the faster you tell me, the faster I can start.**


	4. Forgotten

**A/N:**

**Sorry I haven't updated in awhile - I was working on my other fanfics. But I think this chapter isn't bad. It takes place right after Day wakes up from his coma.**

**June is mentioned and talked about in this chapter, because LegitParkourNinjaLion was mentioning how June needed to be seen in this story. I know she's not talked about much, and she probably won't make many appearances in person, if at all, because I'm trying to stick to canon, and Daniel isn't supposed to remember her for ten years yet. But I will try to mention her more, and let her play a bigger part in the chapters.**

**Thank you so much for the follows and favourites, and an especially big thanks to LegitParkourNinjaLion for reviewing - it means a lot to me.**

**Forgotten**

Five months.

Daniel's been unconscious for five whole months, and Eden is getting worried that his big brother will never wake up. His big brother never moves, just lies there, like he's asleep, but no matter how much noise Eden makes, he never wakes up. Daniel's legs have practically became sticks, tiny and useless from going unused for so long.

Eden is worried about Daniel's reaction when he wakes up, because he knows that his big brother is full of life and energy, always running or laughing or moving, and knows that rehab will be a long, painful, frustrating process for Daniel.

Lucy dragged him from Daniel's side late last night, and now he stares at the ceiling, worrying and wondering if Daniel, if _they_ will be alright.

Because if Daniel isn't alright, Eden won't be either.

The phone rings in the living room, and Eden hears Lucy's voice on the phone. His heart jumps when he hears Daniel's name, and he leaps out of bed, flinging back the sheets and bursting from the room, heart pounding and swirling from some odd mix of anticipation, worry, and nervousness.

Lucy is there, speaking on the phone and covering her mouth as tears pour down her cheeks, and Eden's pounding heart skips a beat until he notices that Lucy is smiling, and she's choked with emotion, but it's not in a bad way.

When he realises this, his heart races at double time, fluttering in his chest as he runs over to her.

"What is it?" He asks, tugging at her shirt, pulling at her arms, jumping up and down restlessly, full of nervous energy. "Is it Daniel? Is he alright? Has he woken up?" Lucy tries to shush him, but it's a poor effort, her voice cracking and wavering, and she just looks so _happy_. Eden just knows it is good news, he just knows it.

"Yes, yes, I'll bring him over now… Alright, thank you so much. Goodbye." Lucy puts down the phone, standing there for a moment before whirling around and scooping Eden up, swinging him up and around as she laughs, eyes sparkling, and Eden laughs too, full of life and joy, heart light in a way it hasn't been for months.

He does not bother to get out of his pyjamas, he just grabs Lucy's hand and the keys, and they run, they run and run until they reach the hospital, and even then he doesn't stop, charging through the doors and speeding down the halls he knows by heart. He leaves Lucy in the dust, but it doesn't matter anymore - he's gone down this path so many times he could walk it in his sleep. And when he comes to Daniel's room, he flings the door open with a resounding bang, as the door whams into the wall and rebounds, forcing Eden to dive out of the way with a yelp. He shudders when it slams shut behind him, narrowly missing his body, and imagines the damage it could have done if it had managed to hit him. He thinks it have ended with him being hospitalised and Daniel being displeased by having to stay in the hospital longer than strictly necessary.

Daniel.

There is a chiming laugh, and Eden grins widely, savouring the sound he has not heard for months. Even if Daniel is laughing at him…

His big brother is awake.

His purple eyes fly up, and they lock easily with Daniel's brilliant blue ones, his eyesight having improved drastically over the past few months and his big brother's eyes too bright to miss anyway. He launches himself towards the bed, slamming into Daniel and burying his face in his brother's chest as Daniel's breath leaves him in a whoosh.

Too late, he remembers that Daniel is not as strong as he was a year ago, and he panics a little, until Daniel rests a hand on Eden's head, and suddenly Eden is crying, warm tears pouring down his face and soaking Daniel's shirt.

It had been five whole months, dammit. He had missed his big brother, had been so scared, so worried, and so guilty, because maybe if Daniel hadn't been shot protecting him, he might have gotten through the operation better.

And he is so, so happy, so relieved now.

"I thought you were gone." He says, voice muffled by Daniel's shirt and cracking from the tears. "I thought you'd left us."

"I'm not going anywhere, kid. See? I'm just fine."

Eden finds that he can't speak - his whole body is shaking with tears, tears that he's held back for months. Every time he tries to open his mouth and speak, all that comes out are shuddering gasps. Daniel runs his hands through Eden's hair, patting his back, and finally, finally he's able to compose himself.

"Has June come in to see you?" He asks. June must be so happy that Daniel's awake - she'd been so worried. Now that everything's over, the two can settle into their girlfriend-boyfriend thing.

Eden's not sure what he thinks about getting a sister-in law, but he supposes he can get used to it if it'll make Daniel happy.

"June Iparis? The girl who came in earlier? What about her?" What?

"Daniel, what are you talking about? It's June!" Eden says, looking up at Daniel and grinning, sure that this is a joke. His smile slides off his face, his heart growing cold and heavy as a stone when he sees no recognition in Daniel's eyes. "Your Princeps-Elect?"

"She's a Princeps-Elect?" Daniel blinks, looking mildly surprised, and Eden's heart completes its transformation into a stone and stops beating.

He can't breathe.

"Daniel, you can't remember?" Daniel looks guilty, and Eden feels like somebody's taken a knife to the stone substituting for his heart and is pushing it down, cracking the rock.

"Should I?"

Eden thinks he's going to cry. It is not fair, he thinks, that Daniel and June and the rest of them have had to go through so much, and they get this instead of a happy ending. Daniel has forgotten the girl he likes, the girl he talks about with so much fondness, marred by a deep-set sorrow. June, who obviously like Daniel just as much, must be heartbroken.

How on earth did June handle it? If Daniel forgot him or Lucy, Eden thinks his heart would turn into stone and crumble into irreparable fragments, tiny pieces of dust and ash.

Eden is starting to realise that the world and universe are horribly, cruelly unfair, and that they seem to be focusing much of their attentions on Daniel, who Eden thinks is the least deserving of this suffering. Can the world not take this out on somebody who actually deserves it, like the bastard who shot his mother?

It's not fair.

His eyes are filling with tears again, and Daniel looks like he's panicking.

"What? What have I forgotten, kid? It's… important, isn't it?" Eden wants to slap himself for making Daniel worry, but at the same time, he wants to slap the memories of June back into Daniel.

_Don't!_ He thinks to himself. _Don't stress Daniel out like this when he's just woken up._

_Give him time._ Yes, maybe Daniel will remember with time.

And when that happens, Eden thinks that like it or not, he's gonna get a sister-in-law.

He decides that he doesn't mind. Not one bit.

**A/N:**

**Is the ending too... abrupt? Sorry if it is - lemme know what you think, and I'll go over this and edit it. Please drop me a few reviews - they're really the fuel for the story.**

**Also, should I write about Daniel's rehab? 'Cos I know for a fact that since he wasn't moved for five months, his legs will be pretty thin and weak and useless, and he'll need therapy to regain his mobility. It seems fun and sorta angsty to write... What do you think?**

**God bless!**


	5. Mirror Image

**A/N:**

**I feel like a horrible person. I am so, so sorry. ka-neko, I know I said I'd post last week - really, I'm so sorry.**

**I've just joined and I'm already updating late - this is a bad sign. Sorry.**

**I did actually post that I'd be late on my profile page, but still...**

**Okay, anyway, I've been really uninspired, and I had judo training these two weeks, and I was working on my other stories, so the update was delayed. Please forgive me! I did talk about June in this chapter - LegitParkourNinjaLion, I hope this helps your desperate June cravings. XD**

**So, I was saying I might work on rehab, and it has received a good response, and it did seem interesting to do, so I'm working on it, but it'll probably be after this chapter. Also, a guest asked me to tackle rehab for Daniel's memories, so I'll probably try. This sort of counts as memory rehab, right?**

**Anyway, this takes place awhile after Daniel regains full mobility. I hope you enjoy it!**

**oOoOo**

**Mirror Image**

The strangest things jolt Daniel's memory. A doctor dropping a heavy box outside his room reminded Daniel of bombs exploding behind him, piercing headaches and a speedy getaway in a car. The elector's picture on JumboTrons brought to his mind him of a buffet, and, in Daniel's own words, a meeting with a dozen prissy senators.

They come across an elegant paper rose, and Daniel gets as close to a panic attack as he's ever gotten. His eyes go wide and huge and horrified, big and scared, and his breaths are ragged, shaky gasps that catch and hitch in his throat. His hands tremble, his eyes glazing over the way they do when he's hit by a particularly bad or confusing memory, and Eden reaches out, touching Daniel's arm, calling his big brother's name, asking what's wrong.

The moment he hears Eden's voice, Daniel snaps out of it, blinking and taking deep breaths to calm himself.

"Daniel? Are you alright? What's wrong?" Daniel blinks, looking at Eden confusedly for a moment, stunned and lost. Then his eyes clear, the fear that had clouded them dispelling as understanding washes over him.

"Was there… a night where we sat in the kitchen?" Daniel asks, fumbling in an attempt to phrase it. "I had a headache, and we sat together… I was dripping like a leaky faucet at the end." Eden laughs, because yes, he does remember that, he remembers spending time next to Daniel, talking about their past and Mum and John and all the mischief they'd gotten up to as kids.

"Yeah. Yeah, we did. You still had half a brain then. Now, though, you've got a quarter - you lost quite a bit of brain matter during the op. Don't worry, we'll try to get it back." Daniel swats at Eden's head, and Eden ducks away, laughing.

Daniel grins, rubbing at the band of metal that still sits on his ring finger, looking happy that he's found another piece of his missing memories, another piece to fit into the jigsaw puzzle that is his mind.

One thing never jolts his memory, but Daniel never lets go of it. There's a paper clip ring on Daniel's finger, half a dozen metal clips intertwined into a little band of silver, a series of beautiful, intricate swirls and twists. Daniel rubs it when he's nervous, or confused by a new memory, like it's something comforting, something that brings him reassurance. A relic from the past.

Eden is pretty sure it's from June. Daniel always tells him that he feels something missing, that there's an absence of something, and he doesn't know what. It's an empty hole, he says, like mum and John and dad left, except that Daniel cannot remember what it was that filled that hole in the first place. He says that the paper clip ring makes him remember, sort of, gives him a feeling that's he's at the edge of the memory, but not quite enough to put a face, an image to it.

And really? Who else could that be but June?

"Hey, Daniel."

"Yeah, kid?" Daniel glances up at him, but his finger still rubs the paper clip ring absently. Eden's surprised that he hasn't worn through the metal by now, with the incessant fingering.

"What else do you remember? Besides sitting on the kitchen floor and discussing stuff from the past?" Daniel frowns in thought.

"I remember the nightmare I had, the one that woke me up. I remember the headache getting worse, and you were… Screaming? Lucy was there too, and you'd contacted the hospital. There was lots of light, after that, and disembodied voices. I thought I'd either died or been dumped in the sea 'cos you guys all thought I was gone. It was actually doctors administering medicine. That's about it." Well, the nightmare part at least explained that panicked look Daniel had gotten. Daniel had been having pretty bad nightmares back then. Eden's heart sinks a little, because not long after Daniel had been discharged he'd gone on a date with June, and Eden had thought Daniel might remember. And he'd thought that the paper rose might've had something to do with June - after all, lovers exchanged roses, right?

Pity. But there's always the next memory, and if that doesn't work, there's always the next.

Instead of letting the disappointment show on his face, which might distress his big brother, Eden smiles up at Daniel.

"Well," he declares, "You've gotten about one-hundredth of your brain back. Add that to the one fifth you've gotten back before this memory, and you're almost back at half a brain. Keep going, Daniel, and you might finally end up with, I dunno, three quarters of one?"

"Hey!" Daniel pretends to be indignant, but he bursts out laughing instead, reaching out to tousle Eden's hair.

Eden laughs too, but it sounds empty to his ears, because he remembers, and he thinks of a girl, a smiling, dark haired girl with eyes that match her hair and little gold flecks in her irises. A girl who talked to Daniel the same way Daniel talked to her, with fondness and hidden affection and kindness, with a sense of kinship and understanding that makes Eden think that, somehow or another, Daniel and the prodigy, the Princeps elect, are not as different as one would think, that they are, in fact, two very similar people managing to be complete opposites all at once, an oxymoron, a paradox, two sides of a mirror, each a broken reflection of the other.

A girl from the gem sectors and a boy from the slums, a failure and a prodigy, eyes dark as night locking with eyes as bright and brilliant as the summer sky.

Two people with plenty of pain, plenty of hurt, missing parts of their families and therefore parts of themselves, hearts that are broken and souls that are shattered, the fragments coming together like pieces of an elaborate puzzle, to make the other whole.

Or maybe it's not as complicated as that. Maybe it is simply that there is a girl, who had abandoned everything to do what is right, and there is a boy, who had lost everything he'd ever owned, and fought for justice because of that. Two people from two different backgrounds, who'd lost the same things in different ways, fighting towards the same goal, and finding each other in the process, joining forces to fight side by side, back to back, each a support that the other would always need.

Daniel _is_ missing a part of himself, maybe not part of his brain, but he's definitely lost a part of his heart, or something. They aren't fighting a war anymore, but Daniel needs June and June needs Daniel, simple as that.

Daniel's given Eden back his freedom, a family, and is working on giving him back his sight. He's given Eden things that Eden's never had before, too, like money, a good home, an education in technology, and plenty of food.

It's Eden's turn to do something for Daniel, and he's going to do it. He's going to find a way, any way, and he's going to make sure that Daniel gets June back.

He doesn't care how long it's going to take - it can take days, weeks, months, years... even an age.

Eden will not give up until Daniel gets that bit of himself back again.

**A/N:**

**Also, I just realised that the chapter is actually pathetically short. Sorry! I'll try to update faster! I've got another two chapters in the works, but not quite ready for posting.**

**I hope you like it, though. It's sort of sweet, and I thought it would be good to go in-depth about Daniel's and June's relationship, as well as build up for another chapter I have in mind.**

**Anyway, thank you for reading, and thank you for all the support you've given my story. I love you guys! :)**

**Do drop a review to let me know if the chapter was no good. Is it too short? Too abrupt? Does it need more?**

**God bless!**


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